


Impossibility

by EmmaArthur



Series: Whumptober 2019 [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Jesse Manes, Alex Whump, Alternate Universe, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Hogwarts AU, Homophobia, Jesse Manes is a War Crime, M/M, Michael whump, Somewhat graphic, Violence, Whump, Whumptober, Wizards, hurt and no comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 15:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaArthur/pseuds/EmmaArthur
Summary: It's a day Michael will never forget. Hogwarts AU.





	Impossibility

**Author's Note:**

> So I came up with a half-assed idea for a Hogwarts AU and somehow this came out.
> 
> Whumptober day 4 : **Human Shield**
> 
> [more than canon-typical violence, blood, abuse, injuries, homophobia]

Michael watches Alex lace his shoes back on, turned on even by that. He's in such a state of bliss that anything could make him go over the edge right now. He likes Alex, so damn much, and somehow Alex likes him back.

It seems like an impossibility. The rivalry between Max and Isobel on one side, and Alex and his brothers on the other, despite their common friends, has been going on for five years, and it's not likely to end anytime soon. Michael has always taken his siblings' side, even though he's been pining after Alex ever since rumors started going through Hogwarts that Alex is gay.

And then, there is the issue of Alex's family, and broader politics. Michael is nothing, in the grand scheme of things, but Max and Isobel consider him their brother, and they're important. And Jesse Manes is one of the most influential and radical purebloods there is, in a climate of rising tensions.

Michael wonders if Alex believes in all that. He's not on good terms with his father, clearly, but that may just be because Jesse Manes is notoriously homophobic. He's friends with Liz and Maria, though, and Michael doubts a convinced blood purist would ever be friends with a muggleborn and a proud half-blood.

“You understand that we can't tell anyone at school, right?” Alex asks, looking up at him.

Michael nods. Alex sneaking him back here, in his father's toolshed, after the kiss they shared at the Diagon Alley shop he works at for the summer was a big clue that he wanted this to be hidden. Michael doesn't care. This means Alex wants to continue, to explore whatever there is between them, and that makes Michael feel ecstatic. “Yes, I know. But I know some places where we can hide. We'll never be found.”

Alex sighs. “I don't know. I mean, I want to, but the consequences if my father finds out...”

“We'll be careful. I promise,” Michael swears.

“Okay,” Alex nods. “We can try.”

He smiles, and it makes Michael melt.

They both jump when the door of the toolshed opens. The sudden terror when Jesse Manes enters, which Michael can feel mirrored in Alex, kills the warm thoughts that had been going through Michael's mind immediately.

Manes looks between them for a second, but Michael is still shirtless, so what they were doing must be obvious. “This ends now,” he says, pulling his wand out.

Michael swallows as Manes approaches. Alex puts himself almost automatically between them, and Michael wants to push him away, but he doesn't dare. Manes won't hurt his son badly, will he? Alex may be the youngest of his sons, and thus not his heir, but pureblood wizards treasure every child born in the best families. Michael, now, is another matter. Pureblood but from an opposing family, raised by Muggles… Worthless to someone like Jesse Manes. And just caught in bed with his son.

“Dad, this has nothing to do with you,” Alex pleads.

Manes raises his wand, and Alex starts choking.

“Everything you do−” he starts. Alex lets out a breathless moan. “Everything! I will not be humiliated.”

Michael realizes quickly that he's not going to let up, and Alex is turning blue. He jumps on Manes, trying to get his wand.

“Don't hurt him!” he shouts.

“Aflicto,” Manes murmurs, his hold still firm on his wand. Michael's left hand is just inches from it−inches from the wrong side of it. He screams as the bones in his hand shatter. He falls to the floor.

“Michael!” Alex shouts. “Dad, stop!”

When the haze of pain starts to let up, Michael can see Alex with his wand raised, facing his father. Sometime in the few seconds when Michael was nearing unconsciousness, Jesse Manes got away from him and is now threatening Alex, as Alex puts himself between him and Michael again.

_No!_ Michael wants to scream, but he only has the energy for a groan of pain.

Manes opens his mouth. “Sectumsempra!”

He's aiming for Michael, lying on the floor of the toolshed, but Alex is still between them, and he throws himself in the path of the curse.

Michael can see it almost in slow motion from his prone position, where the spell would have hit his head and killed him. It hits Alex's right leg instead, and the concussive force throws him back against Michael, whose face is immediately splattered with blood. Alex's blood. Alex's scream covers every other noise.

Michael does his best to crawl out from under him and cradle him, keeping his injured hand away. “Alex,” he murmurs.

Alex's eyes are glazed with pain when he looks back. “I'm sorry,” he murmurs.

Michael doesn't have time to answer before Manes pulls him away, roughly, hitting his head on the table behind them.

“You,” Manes spits out. “Get out of my house. And never show your face here again, or you know what will happen.”

Michael scrambles up and looks back one last time, before he obeys, knowing he has no other choice.

Jesse Mane applying first aid to the stump of Alex's right leg, minutes after hitting him with a dark spell, is an image Michael will never forget.

They're fifteen. Michael isn't able to see Alex again for the rest of the summer, which Alex spends at the hospital. He only gets news from Cameron, who gets them from Valenti. Neither Liz nor Maria are allowed to go see Alex because of their blood status, and soon enough, with the way things are going, they won't be able to enter public wizarding spaces at all. Michael will come back to Hogwarts in September with a mangled hand, still in a Muggle cast, and Alex will return with a missing leg and a magical prosthetic he'll still be learning to walk on. They won't speak to each other again for nearly a year.

In that year, the world will have fallen into darkness. A war where Michael and Alex may well end up on opposite sides.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably expend more on this AU at some point, though it probably won't become a fully fledged longfic. I hope you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear your thoughts :)


End file.
